IOC Member's Court Date Delayed; Freestyle Skiing World Champs

Trial of Gambian IOC Member Postponed

Gambian officials have another two weeks to make their case against IOC member Beatrice Allen.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a court in Banjul postponed the trial until Feb. 17 after prosecutors insisted their investigation of the Gambian National Olympic Committee interim president wasn’t compete.

Police arrested Allen, GNOC treasurer Ousman Wadda and accounting officer Muhammed Janneh on Jan. 21 over allegations that they stole $1200 from the GNOC coffers.

The three spent the weekend in jail and were released on bail Jan. 26.

Allen, 61, was elected to the IOC in 2006. She assumed the role of GNOC president after her predecessor, Lang Tombong Tamba, was sentenced to death over his involvement with a coup.

She serves on the IOC’s Women and Sport, Culture and Olympic Education commissions, and the Rio de Janeiro Coordination Commission.

Freestyle Skiers Back In Action

The freestyle skiing world championships are underway at the venues from the Salt Lake City Olympics.

On display in Deer Valley and Park City will be two of the sport’s five events up for addition to Sochi 2014.

Slopestyle skiing will make its world champs debut Wednesday, while ski halfpipe kicks off Friday.

Both will gain spots on the Olympic program should they win the approval of IOC president Jacques Rogge,who will handpick up to 10 events at the end of the winter sports season.

Also on tap this week are moguls, dual moguls, aerials and skicross.

A total of 313 athletes from 36 countries are in Utah for the occasion.

Among the favorites are Sammy Carlson (U.S.) and Kaya Turski (Canada) in slopestyle, Kevin Rolland (France) and Sarah Burke (Canada) in halfpipe and John Teller (U.S.) and Kelsey Serwa (Canada) in skicross. All six won their events at last week’s Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

This week’s first medals will be handed out Wednesday afternoon in men’s and women’s moguls. An opening ceremony will follow with Bob Marley’s son Julian as entertainment.

Each night ends with fireworks ateither Deer Valley Resort or Park City’s Lower Main Street.

NBC and Versus will broadcast delayed coverage of the championships, which end Saturday.

World Series of Boxing Fires Two Ex-USOC Execs

Two former U.S. Olympic Committee staffers are out of the jobs they took with World Series of Boxing.

Jeff Benz was the USOC's chief legal counsel in the early 2000s, and Eric Parthen was the NOC's most recent director of NGB development. Both took positions last year with WSB, an AIBA pet project now midway through its debut season.

Parthen joined WSB in September as managing director of its American operations, a career move that didn’t even require relocation. Both the USOC and WSB Americas are headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Parthen oversaw a four-team conference with franchises in Memphis, Miami, Mexico City and Los Angeles until his recent departure, a source tells Around the Rings.

Benz, meanwhile, was general manager of that L.A. franchise until a management restructuring that brought his front office to a standstill and cut two-thirds of his staff.

WSB chief operating officer Ivan Khodabakhsh confirmed Tuesday that Benz had been fired as well.

London 2012 "My Biggest Goal," Says Sharapova

Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova is already looking ahead to the London Olympics.

"The Olympics is my biggest goal in tennis and my dream is to represent Russia in London," she told reporters Wednesday at a press conference in Moscow.

Her participation in a Fed Cup match there this weekend against France will allow her to compete for her native Russia come 2012.

Sharapova, now ranked 13, won three Grand Slams in five seasons but has yet to return to form after a 2008 shoulder surgery that sidelined her for nine months and kept her out of the Beijing Olympics.

The 23-year-old became the sport’s most bankable star when she won Wimbledon in 2003 at age 17. It’s those same grass courts that will host London 2012’s tennis tournament.

Thorpe Confirms Rumors, Announces Return

He’s coming back.

More than four years after retiring from competitive swimming, five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe revealed Wednesday he is training for London 2012.

The announcement came at a news conference in his native Sydney and was broadcast live throughout Australia.

"I looked at where I thought I could have the most value for the Australian Swim Team and decided on the relay events," said the nine-time Olympic medalist and 11-time world champion.

"I’ll be focusing mostly on the 100m, which may surprise some people but this is where I think I can add and contribute to the Team in the best way."

Thorpe added he’d welcome any individual spots for which he can qualify at the Olympic trials next March.

Rumors of his return swirled throughout last month after Australian media reported that the 28-year-old resumed a regular training regimen at the start of last summer and appeared more than 20 pounds lighter.

The swimming legend admitted Wednesday to an elaborate cover-up scheme that had him training at different pools throughout Sydney, convincing friends to deny his comeback, receiving coaching via text message and keeping his family in the dark until early last month.

During an October tour of London’s newly built Aquatics Centre, Thorpe mused that the venue might even surpass that of Sydney 2000 - one from which he left with three gold medals – and then revealed Wednesday he "could taste" what had been missing since his November 2006 "retirement".

Written by Matthew Grayson.

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